St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-04


y This is picture which can be
Seen at either of the three great Saratoga
hotels, the United States, Congress Hall
or the Grand Union at any time during
the fall season.
How many walters? o, several hum
dred. Look 1T the procession of them
emerging without end from that door
over there, which communicates, it is to
be presumed. with the kitchen. Look
vegetables. entrees and ices, soups
and baked fish, buildings and
cakes, coffee and nuts and raisins:
What quantity of provender.
What place that kitchen must
be. How do they know how much to
cook? What time the chef must have
making up different bill of fare each
day! These are the comments that
crowd upon the least Observant man
who is brought face to face with this va
ciouS and extensive, this widely and
iOngitudinally various scene, crowded
with moving and stationary figures and
with thousands of dishes of every de-
Scriptlon of foods appearing and anon
disappearing in all directions.
Let us 20 down into the kitchen
down the stairs along the passage, I'M
her the stone arches on which the great
house rests and, led by ten thousand
grateful odors, reach the fragrant power
behind this dining-rOOm throne. Here
is even a stranger sight than any ever
seen in the dining-rOom up stairs. Go
Into the kitchen when the cooks are pre-
pairing for dinner. There are a dozen
men in white suits, with white
caps and aprons hurrying from
place to place. One man is tax
ing an immense roast of beef out of the
OlQnnQ
door which has just opened, you see
that the oven is about fifteen feet square
and several feet high, and that it still
contains several other large roaStS. A
heighbOring table is piled high with
ehickens, and over by the window which
looks out on back street is a heap of
freshly-cooked Holsters. Wherever the
eye turns it is met by the sight of food,
cooked and uncooked, prepared and un-
prepared. or undergoing preparation at
the hands of .SnOwy-capped cooks and
the half dozen trim girls. The girls
have charge of the cooking of the vege-
tables. That is all. The chief of the
girls presides over the great copper
Kettles, and her assistants do the peel
ing. the pairing and the slicing.
Il have twelve assistants" said Chief
Nessi at Congress Hall. Sat breakfast.
have three men broiling steaks and
chops all the time. Then have another
man who gives his entire attention to
cooking eggs. Yes, naturally he be-
comes very expert. The rush about 9
o'clock is tremendous. We cannot pre-
pare anything in advance, and in the
@arm weather the men pefspire SO freely
that their clothes in a short time are
Infringing wet However, the men keep
up pretty well. We have to give them
allowances of whisky, and the warmer
the day, the more whisky is required.
lemonade or even beer would be use
Sess."
How do you know how much to pro
fide?"
I'VE receive word from the Office
every morning how many people there
are in the house, and there are certain
.well-established rules for calculation
For instance, among certain number
of people so many will take roast beef,
and we have found by experiment that
100 people require side of beef weigh
ing about forty pounds. Among the
same 100 people forty or fifty chickens
will be needed, according to the size of
the chickens. We can calculate pretty
closely, but we have to be liberal, so
that if fifty or sixty people come in to
dinner whom we did not expect, there
will not be scant supply. make out
the bill of fare for each days dinner on
the afternoon of the previous day. l
look over my stock, ask the steward
what he expects to have in by the morn
ing trains. and thus knowing the mate
rial shall have to work with on the
morrow, the bill of fare is made out"
The pastry cooks department is en-
tirely distinct from that of the chef, who
gets up the dinner proper. He has
kitchen and hemisphere of his own,
supplied with two or three ovens and
several assistants, and here he literally
cooks up his quaint designs and turns
almost unlimited quantities.